Seacoast show to show off electric vehicles

Tuesday

Sep 12, 2017 at 3:48 PMSep 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM

Jeff McMenemy jmcmenemy@seacoastonline.com @JeffreyMcMenemy

PORTSMOUTH — Don’t let appearances fool you.

The Chevy Bolt all electric vehicle (EV) may look like just another wimpy small car. But it can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 6.5 seconds as EV enthusiast James Penfold demonstrated pulling onto the Route 1 Bypass with tires squealing Monday.

“It’s an absolute blast to drive,” said Penfold, who is the volunteer organizer of the Seacoast Electric Vehicle Show this Saturday at the Redhook Ale Brewery at Pease. He chatted before giving a reporter and photographer a brief but speedy test ride.

Penfold proudly boasted about pulling up to a stoplight next to a Mustang and leaving the car “in the dust.”

The idea behind Saturday’s event at Redhook, which has an EV charging station, is to give people a real sense about what it’s like to drive an electric car, Penfold said.

“The main purpose of Drive Electric Week is to talk with existing owners … to get their personal experiences,” he said Monday. “No holds barred.”

The event will feature free rides in EV vehicles, vehicle demonstrations and dealerships that are now selling the vehicles, Penfold said.

Penfold showed off the Chevy Bolt in front of an EV charging station inside the city’s High-Hanover parking garage.

“In Portsmouth, it’s free to charge the car,” Penfold said. “All you have to pay for is the parking.”

The charging station in the garage can charge two cars at a time, but the city is also talking about installing another charger in the City Hall parking lot, according to the city's Planning Director Juliet Walker, who owns an electric vehicle. “They can be self standing outdoor units. A lot of them are outdoors in parking lots.”

Penfold called the new Bolt “kind of the tipping point for electric vehicles.”

“It’s long range, you get 238 miles of range in the battery,” Penfold said. “Eighty percent of people charge at home, so you don’t have to worry about finding any charges.”

There are also a growing number of public and private EV charging stations around the country, Penfold said. You can find public and private charging stations – where typically you must pay to get a battery charge – on www.chargepoint.com and a host of other websites.

You can go on a trip in your EV just like any other vehicle, Penfold said, just by locating charging stations on the trip.

“Along the way there are public fast charges and they are located where they’ve got restrooms, restaurants, etc.,” he said. “You can get like a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes. You do have to pay for it … but then you can hopscotch your way down the road.”

“You can get to Boston and back in two round trips without doing a charge,” he said about the new Chevy Bolt.

City Councilor Josh Cyr, who visited with Penfold at the city’s downtown garage, said as more people switch to EVs, it will “shift the landscape of gas stations and infrastructure.”

“I’ve had people reaching out to me as a city councilor saying we need more chargers,” Cyr said. “I think you’ll find most of the chargers are private entities.”

Walker, who owns a Nissan Leaf, said her EV takes about 12 hours to charge if the battery is down “to almost nothing.” But she added, “batteries are getting more and more efficient and so is charging technology.”

As attractive as it may be to own an EV with a small carbon footprint, the Chevy Bolt is not cheap. The one Hilltop Chevrolet lent to Penfold for Saturday’s event lists for about $37,500, but he said there is a federal government rebate of $7,500.

In addition to never having to go to a gas station again, EVs produce a carbon footprint about three times less than a small gasoline powered car, he said.

Walker loves her EV, she said, but like anything else, it takes some getting used to. Her battery ran out a block from her home and she had to get it towed, she said.

“But it’s good to know,” she said about the experience. “They give you lots and lots of warning.”

Penfold stressed “there’s two sides to the coin.”

“Eighty percent of people charge at home and they wake up every morning with a full (charge),” he said. “Plus, you never have to stand outside when it’s cold gassing up.”

The Seacoast Electric Vehicle Show will run from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Redhook.

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